One neocon hawk down, many more to go. He says he simply could not win. Well, duh. Nobody liked the guy. 🙄
The video announcement:
(CNN)Senator Lindsey Graham is ending his presidential campaign, he told CNN during an exclusive interview airing Monday.
“I’m going to suspend my campaign. I’m not going to suspend my desire to help the country,” the South Carolina senator said in a wide-ranging and candid discussion in which he acknowledged: “I’ve hit a wall here.”
He made the official announcement in an email to supporters and Youtube video posted Monday morning.
Graham is known for his quick wit and famous for his one-liners (just ask Princess Buttercup about his retort from the last debate), but he was sober, serious and emotional as he described his decision to leave the race just weeks before the voting begins.
One thing is clear: Graham still wants his voice heard on the direction his party is headed, especially with regard to the Middle East.
“Here’s what I predict. I think the nominee of our party is going to adopt my plan when it comes time to articulate how to destroy ISIL,” he said. “We’ve fallen short here, but the fight continues. To those who are doing the fighting, I want to be your voice. To those in the Republican Party who want to win, check my plan out. Hillary, if you get to be President, I’ll help you where I can. I hope you’re not. But if you are, I’ll be there to help you win a war we can’t afford to lose.”
One of Graham’s handicaps is that he is a part of the old Bush-era establishment Republican cabal. America has moved on since 9/11 and Bush’s style of hawkish Conservatism has grown very stale. His “plan” for defeating ISIS is basically to put America into another long-term boots on the ground war. Which, as we found out with Iraq; turned out to be, not a quick military exercise; but rather a long drawn out war.
Simply put Graham’s ideas for the middle east are classic neo-conservative, Wilsonian nonsense that even now Conservative and Republicans reject. This is why Lindsey Graham is out.
Related:
Katie Glueck / Politico:Â Lindsey Graham drops out of presidential race
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